


The Three Bonds of Nora Valkyrie (Or Three Times Nora Booped Her Teammates, and Three Times They Booped Her)

by RandomFandomReader (MultiFandomReader)



Category: RWBY
Genre: Family, Gen, Mild Hurt/Comfort, Multiple meanings for "Boop", Slight AU but doesn't affect the plot, slight angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-06
Updated: 2021-01-06
Packaged: 2021-03-16 16:27:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,696
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28584972
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MultiFandomReader/pseuds/RandomFandomReader
Summary: An exploration of the word "Boop," and how its meanings change over the course of JNPR's lifetime.
Relationships: Jaune Arc & Nora Valkyrie, Lie Ren & Nora Valkyrie, Pyrrha Nikos & Nora Valkyrie
Kudos: 7





	The Three Bonds of Nora Valkyrie (Or Three Times Nora Booped Her Teammates, and Three Times They Booped Her)

**Author's Note:**

> A quick note before you read this: If something seems off from what it should be, wait until you read the A/N at the bottom. I will explain several details there.

1.

The first time Nora booped Ren was two years before they joined Beacon. They had just finished eliminating some Grimm that were scaring a farmer's animals, and she was exhausted. Although he tried to hide it (and he did a darn good job of it, too), Nora could tell that the fight had taken a lot out of Ren as well.

"Y'know, Ren, we've been traveling for, what, three weeks? How about a break? Ooohhh! Can you make pancakes? Actually, no, let's go get pancakes! We've got enough lien, right? Of course we have enough lien, that farmer gave us a lot! It's decided, we're going to that pancake place we saw yesterday!"

Ren, on his part, just gave his usual half-grunt and continued walking to the center of the small town they had been staying in for the last couple days.

"Just to be clear," Nora continued, "I still prefer your pancakes. The restaurant pancakes are always too dense. Not like yours. Yours are nice and fluffy, and soak up all the syrup I put . . . on . . . them . . . Watcha lookin' at, Renny?"

Indeed, Ren had stopped about ten paces behind, and was currently staring into a seemingly empty alleyway. He began to move into the alley, prompting Nora to backtrack and follow him. Soon, she saw what—or rather, _who_ —had caused the observant boy to stop: a small girl, standing at the other end of the passage, quietly sobbing.

Ren stopped about five feet from the girl and kneeled down to meet her eyes. "Hello," he murmured softly. "My name is Ren. What's your name?"

"H-Hui'an," she hiccuped. "My name is Hui'an. We were sh-shopping, and m-my _māmā_ and _bàba_ dis-disappeared, and now I can't find them."

"Well then, let's find them together," Ren suggested, "they can't have gone too far."

"O-okay," Hui'an sniffed.

Ren held out his hand to her, and walked them back to Nora at the entrance of the alley.

"Hi Hui'an, my name is Nora, but you can call me Nora, or Queen of the Castle, or Thunder! Ooohhh, that would be cool! Hui, can I call you Hui? Of course I can call you Hui. What was I talking about? Oh right, my name! I should call myself Thunder! Yeah, that's it, you can call me Thunder! Thunder and Hui, Queens of the Castle!" Looking back at Ren, Nora added in a whisper: "Oh, and I suppose Ren can tag along too."

Ren was just about to reign Nora in, when Hui'an suddenly started giggling. Soon, Nora joined in, causing both to laugh harder until they were practically rolling on the ground.

After calming down, the three were able to find Hui'an's parents after a bit of searching. The couple were so overjoyed to have their daughter back that they took everyone to the pancake restaurant for lunch, where Nora and Ren regaled the family with stories of their travels until Ren decided it was time for them to leave.

"Goodbye Hui'an, it was nice meeting you."

"Yeah!" Nora added. "That was fun! Have a good day, and stay close to your parents."

"Okay!" the girl responded eagerly. "I will!"

As the two groups split ways, Nora looked at Ren thoughtfully.

"What is it, Nora?" he asked. "Is there something else you'd like to do?"

Nora shook her head, stopped a moment, then placed her finger against Ren's nose and uttered one word:

"Boop!"

Although she used it to say "You're my best friend," she didn't realize how much it would mean to her, and all the meanings that the word would come to encompass.

* * *

2.

The first time Nora booped Pyrrha, Professor Port had organized a mandatory "Manliness Exercise" for the male students (although Pyrrha had the feeling Port was finally getting revenge for everyone thinking he was just a crazy old man). Either way, this left the two female fighters on their own in the dorm room, telling camping stories (mostly Nora) and celebrity "horror stories" (mostly Pyrrha). After a particularly hilarious story of a fan trying to get Pyrrha's autograph by hiding in a trash can—"I think that was the only time a fan smelled worse than I did after a match."—they both laid back in their pillow/blanket fort, relaxing in the easy atmosphere that surrounded them.

"Hey Pyrrha?" Nora asked.

"Yes, Nora?" the redhead responded.

"Thanks for agreeing to this. It's been a while since I was able to just sit and relax with another girl. Most of the time, either there are boys around, or people are intimidated by my craziness."

"You're welcome, Nora." Pyrrha replied. "To be honest, this is the first sleepover I've been to as well. I spent most of my time training. I'm glad we did this, it's a lot of fun. Maybe next time we can invite Team Ruby."

After a moment, Nora finally responded. "Yeah, that would be fun . . ." Looking in her direction, Pyrrha noticed a contemplative look on the other girl's face.

"Nora? What's wrong?" she asked after a moment.

Instead of answering, Nora leaned forward and tapped her finger against Pyrrha's nose with a smile. "Boop." (You're my family.)

The champion's eyes widened. She knew how important Nora's boops were, being reserved only for those the ginger considered close family. Until now, Nora had only booped Ren, and Pyrrha and Jaune had assumed that it would take several years to reach that level of trust.

Rather than breaking the silence, Pyrrha simply leaned back and smiled, allowing her eyes to convey her joy at the simple gesture.

* * *

3.

The first time Pyrrha booped Nora, the redhead seemed very distraught. After a frantic text from Jaune (Nora had no idea what the clueless boy said this time, but DARN IT, she was going to figure this out and get the two of them together-together before the year ended!), she discovered the champion curled up under one of the unused stairwells in the exchange student dorms.

"Hey, Pyrrha," she greeted, slowly walking toward her. "Jaune's looking for you and he seemed pretty worried. What's going on?"

The famed "Invincible Girl" seemed to shrink back into herself, as if she was a child trying to defend from an invisible attacker.

"Pyrrha?" Nora asked worriedly. "What's going on? You can tell me, I promise not to tell a soul."

After a moment, Pyrrha responded quietly: "Nora, if you had the chance to protect a lot of people, but you might not be yourself afterward, would you do it? Would you take the risk if it meant your loved ones stayed safe?"

Nora was speechless. In their entire time as a team, Pyrrha had never sounded so . . . unsure.

No, unsure wasn't the right word for it. More like _scared._

Nora had never heard the redhead express fear before. Cautiousness, sure; you had to be careful when fighting Grimm, but never had she seemed so frightened of something that Nora couldn't even identify.

The hammer user took a moment to think as she sat down. This wasn't a situation she could fix by verbally plowing through the topic like she usually did. "Well," she responded, "I think that all we can do is become the strongest we can be, and rely on our friends to make sure we're still 'us' at the end."

Pyrrha's face shifted into a melancholy smile, as if she had somehow seen the end of a strong friendship.

"Hey, Nora?" she asked.

"Yeah, Pyrrha?" the orphan answered.

"If something goes wrong at the Festival, promise you'll look out for the boys, okay?"

Nora had no clue what Pyrrha was talking about, but the champion needed reassurance more than questions right now. "Of course, Pyrrha. But we're Team Juniper, the best freshman team at Beacon! Nothing will get past Queen Nora and her court!"

Smiling, Pyrrha reached over and pressed her finger against Nora's nose. "Boop." (Thank you.)

After a brief pause, the two dissolved into a fit of giggles. Whatever was going on with Pyrrha wasn't important at that moment. For one brief period in the chaos, they were simply two friends, being the teenagers that they should have been, without the weight of a dwindling world on their shoulders.

* * *

4.

The first time Nora booped Jaune, the three remaining members of Juniper (or just Junior, but no one ever used the team names anymore) were walking back to Saffron and Tellus Cotta-Arc's home after a draining several hours looking for Oscar. As they traveled back, Nora looked at Jaune closely. He seemed to finally have let go of the burden he placed on himself, and accepted that Pyrrha had chosen to leave him behind, not because she was afraid for his safety, but because she trusted him to guide the rest of Juniper to victory against Cinder and her previously unknown allies.

Although, Nora wasn't so naive to think that it was all Team Ranger's doing. Although she couldn't hear their conversation, she saw the woman with shockingly red hair that could have only been Pyrrha's mother. She saw as Mrs. Nikos offered words of encouragement; saw as the lady gently placed the flowers on the statue and quietly walked away, at peace with the choice her daughter made.

Nora also knew some of what must have been going through her leader's mind. The relief and peace that he must have felt after the conversations at the statue. The determination to avenge Pyrrha, rather than simply enacting revenge for the loss of a loved one. And the determination to be a leader that they could be proud of.

"Hey, Ren? Give us a minute?" she requested.

Ren glanced between Nora and Jaune, and, seeing something Jaune couldn't, responded with a quick "Meet you at the house," before using his long strides to swiftly put some distance between him and them.

When the occasionally bomb-happy girl didn't speak immediately, Jaune decided to break the silence: "Yeah, Nora? What's up?"

"Jaune," she began. "I already said this earlier, but Ren and I . . . we love you. We loved Pyrrha, too. We still do. You know where we came from, and you know how much family means to us. We already lost one family member. Please don't make us lose another one."

Jaune's eyes filled with steely determination. "Don't worry, Nora. If something happens to me, you can be sure that I fought my absolute hardest to get back to you guys. I promise. And an Arc—"

"—Always keeps his word." Nora finished. "Yeah. Thanks Jaune." Without even needing to think about it, she placed a single digit on his nose and uttered one word: "Boop." (I'm here for you.)

And under the moonlight, two people simply gazed into each other's eyes, not with the affection of lovers, but with the bond of two siblings who had both been through so much together, and would go to the end of the world and back for each other.

* * *

5.

The first time Jaune booped Nora, their groups had reconvened together after a particularly nasty fight against Tyrian, Watts and Cinder in the abandoned districts of Mantle, which included Nora getting nicked by the psycho's poisoned blades. Thankfully the doctor said that she had managed to avoid the worst of it, and would make a full recovery by the next day.

Nora was in the portable hospital, waiting for her family. She had already made peace with Ren, and—while some wounds would take longer to heal—they were well on the way to rebuilding their relationship. No, Nora was waiting for her other family, her brother in all but name.

Already she could hear his worried shouting: "Nora! Nora!"

Nora grinned as Jaune burst through the door of the makeshift hospital, earning a few scathing looks as he nearly bowled over several nurses in his rush.

"Well," she quipped. "Took you long enough. I thought I would have to go out and find you."

Rather than responding right away, Jaune's eyes roved over her side with an intensity that made her feel like he was staring at her soul itself.

Nora rolled her eyes as she lifted up her shirt, showing off the odd-looking scab on her side. "I'm fine ya big baby. You got to me before he could do any real damage."

Although he didn't completely relax, she saw Jaune's forehead lose a couple of the creases that seemed to be a permanent feature now as he fell onto a nearby stool.

"I told you, Jaune, I'm fine. They're gonna have to try a lot harder than that to get rid of Nora Valkyrie!"

After a second, Jaune shook his head with an exasperated grin. "You know, either Ren or I are going to have a heart attack, and it'll be your fault. 'Here lies Jaune Arc. In the end, it wasn't the stress that killed him, but taking care of Nora Valkyrie. "Let's ride the Grimm," she said. "It'll be fun," she said.'"

The two shared a chuckle before he regarded her carefully. "Seriously though, Nora. Do you remember what you said to me back in Argus?"

She took a moment to think. "I said a lot of things, Jaune. You'll have to be more specific."

"'We already lost one family member. Please don't make us lose another one.'" Jaune grabbed her hand, forcing Nora to look right at his eyes, although it wasn't difficult. The intensity in them nearly made her shrink back, but her hand in his prevented her from doing so. "I also lost a family member that day. That promise goes both ways. You, Ren, Team Ruby, Oscar, Penny, heck, even Qrow; you're all my family. I don't want to lose anyone else."

Lost for words, Nora simply nodded, squeezing his hand tight.

Deciding that was enough for him, Jaune loosened his grip and brought his hand up to her face. Giving her nose a small tap, he spoke one word: "Boop." (I've got your back. You won't lose me.)

* * *

6.

The first time Ren booped Nora, it was after they won against insurmountable odds. Salem recognized her error from all those centuries ago, and with that, was finally able to give up her life on Remnant. The Relics were destroyed, and the kingdoms began to expand in the face of the falling Grimm population.

Team Orange experienced many personal victories as well. Jaune finally admitted to his parents about his forged transcripts, but they still accepted him with open arms and proud smiles.

With Ozpin's mission complete, the Brothers allowed him to leave Remnant, making Oscar free to live his own life, without needing to worry whether it was him or Ozpin making the decisions.

However, today wasn't about looking at the past. Today was about another victory, about looking at the future.

As Nora gazed over the people present, she saw many faces. Some, like the members of Team Rainbow, were close friends. Others were former enemies turned allies, like Hazel Rainart, Mercury Black, and Emerald Sustrai. Finally some, like Sun Wukong, Neptune Vasilias, or Ilia Amitola, she only knew vaguely.

But the person in front of her quickly grabbed her attention again, as he always had, ever since they were "together-together" after clearing Kuroyuri of Grimm, or "together" as they had been after the first attack on the village.

"By the power vested in me by the Country of Vale, in the presence of these witnesses, I pronounce you man and wife. You may kiss the bride."

Nora tilted her face up, expecting a kiss much like the ones her and Ren had shared numerous times over the years. However, a look of confusion crossed her face as Ren brought a hand up between them. It wasn't until his finger pressed against her nose that she understood what he was doing, causing her expression to morph into one of surprise.

And there at the altar, Ren spoke a word that—for the remnants of Team Juniper—had come to mean many things:

You're my best friend.

You're my family.

Thank you.

I'm here for you.

I've got your back.

You won't lose me.

And finally:

"Boop." ( I love you.)

**Author's Note:**

> Whew! Holy cow! I was expecting this muse to give me just a short thing (less than 1k words), but look where it ran off to, almost 2600 words and two months later! Man, what a rush for my first personal writing project.
> 
> Anyway, I said I would answer some stuff about the fic, so here I go.
> 
> General: I am aware that everyone is probably OOC, especially Nora. I'm using the excuse that she has a serious side that's present before the Fall of Beacon, but it just never had a reason to show up in the show until after.
> 
> I am also aware that in-universe, "Boop" is Nora's special way of saying "I love you" to Ren, but my muse asked: "What if instead she says that to anyone she considers family?" and just wouldn't let go.
> 
> Now, on to section-specific notes.
> 
> 1.
> 
> "Hui'an" — Adapted from "灰暗 (Huī'àn)." Means "gray" in simplified Chinese. Sorry if this is wrong. Since I literally can't recognize any Chinese besides "kung fu" and "ni hao," I had to trust Google Translate.
> 
> 2.
> 
> Nothing really much about this section. I do think there's more to Port's character, but I needed a reason for Pyrrha and Nora to have a "girl's night," and this was the only thing I could think of. As for why they didn't hang out with RWBY to start with, just imagine that they were serving detention for some antics of theirs lol.
> 
> 3.
> 
> I am aware that I'm playing a bit loose with canon, but I really liked this scene as I was writing it, so I decided to keep it. Also, I wanted to make them in chronological order, so that's why Pyrrha and Jaune's boops are back-to-back.
> 
> 4.
> 
> Yes, I think that Nora could have easily seen some of Jaune and Mrs. Nikos' conversation before Ren interrupted, however, I doubt that she heard anything. I think that she's more observant than we give her credit for.
> 
> Also, regarding "Tellus Cotta-Arc." Because I am Protastant Christian (as stated in my profile), I am uncomfortable having to write marriage/dating situations with homosexual characters, so I decided to make this an AU and genderbend Terra, which is the furthest canon deviation that I intended while writing this. According to Wikipedia, Tellus Mater and Terra Mater are two Latin names for Mother Earth. So, in keeping with Terra's name and color scheme, I decided to dub him Tellus, since it seemed more masculine. It in no way affects his role in canon. Every canon-changing event happens exactly the same.
> 
> 5.
> 
> At the time of me writing this fic, I've only seen up through Vol. 8, Chap. 3 or 4, but I did see a fanart about Jaune's group running into Hazel, Emerald and Mercury while both are trying to rescue Oscar. Not sure how accurate it is, but I'm running with it. Once I catch up, I may come back and edit this if it doesn't require too many changes.
> 
> 6.
> 
> I thought about tossing pairings into this section, but eventually decided against it, since I wanted to make this section just about Nora and Ren. If you absolutely want to know who I was going to pair, the list will be after my last remarks.
> 
> Final thoughts: Man, this A/N is WAY longer than it has any right to be. But anyway yeah, that's my one fic for a while. Leave a review if you like, I accept all constructive criticism about my writing style, grammar, and spelling. Any flames aimed at my religious beliefs will be ignored.
> 
> I sincerely hope you enjoyed the story, and have a nice day!
> 
> And for those that read through that long wrap-up in order to get to the pairings, these are canon pairings for this fic, based on how I think show canon is going:
> 
> Ren/Nora (obviously)
> 
> Oscar/Ruby
> 
> Blake/Sun
> 
> Jaune/Weiss
> 
> Mercury/Emerald
> 
> I suppose you can pair Yang/Neptune if you want to, I just thought of them as being single


End file.
